PISCATAWAY — The offensive line that started preseason camp together for the Rutgers football team will line up when the Scarlet Knights play host to Norfolk State in their season opener Thursday night.

That doesn’t mean they’ll be the same five to finish the season, or even be the same pentad when Rutgers travels to play FIU next weekend.

Left tackle Desmond Stapleton, left guard Desmond Wynn, center Howard Barbieri, right guard Caleb Ruch and right tackle Art Forst have played in their share of games for the Scarlet Knights in recent seasons. But the one thing they haven’t done is line up on the offensive line at the same time together.

They will do so Thursday night.

“”Do I feel ready? Yeah,” Forst said. “”Have we answered any questions? No. You don’t answer anything until the end of the season. You look back and you evaluate it then.”

Forst is only a junior, but the Manasquan native is a senior stateman on the line with 21 starts the past two seasons. He insists Rutgers fans — and more importantly, quarterback Tom Savage — should have confidence that this untested unit is ready for anything that will be thrown at them this fall, starting with a Norfolk State defense that returns seven starters from a group ranking sixth in the Football Championship Subdivision last season.

The search is over. After Jay Young moved on to take the Fairfield Stags head coaching spot, Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell had a major hole to fill on his assistant coaching staff. And while it seems like Pikiell did his due diligence interviewing for the position, he didn’t have to go far to fill it. […]

As East coast temperatures continue to rise, so do expectations for next season We are just now arriving at Memorial Day weekend, but the optimism around the Rutgers men’s basketball program is already in full bloom. Next season is the most anticipated in many years and postseason aspirations are warranted. Entering year four of the […]